Accident - Going to Court

purpleozzie2

Hi,

 

I was hoping someone could give me some advice..

 

Back in April, I was turning into a car park.. As I turned right into the CP a car was stationary waiting to turn left back onto the main road.. My wing mirrors passed hers and I had fully straightened up. I then heard a crunch from behind me, I braked hard and came to a stop, the crunch continued after I’d stopped, so I turned round and saw that the other car had started to drive off and both our back bumpers had connected. I carried on driving and found the first available space and parked up to check the damage.

 

Luckily I had minimal damage. The other car then drove round and her damage was significant. The bumper had ripped and was at right angles.

 

My belief was that it was her fault as I had passed her wing mirrors so there as adequate space between us, so for me to hit her back bumper I must have veered onto the other side of the road, which I didn’t. But, I knew the insurance company would class this as 50/50 because it happened behind both of us.

 

I made the decision that it wasn’t worthwhile claiming so I was civil to the other party. We swapped details and went on our way.

 

That night I received a whatsapp from her asking for my license plate, and I knew at this point she would claim, so I phoned my insurance company and told them my side of the story.

 

A few months later I received a letter from her insurance company demanding £3,500 for the damage to her car. I phoned my insurance company and they told me to ignore it and they would deal with it.

 

A couple of months later I received court papers and knew that the other insurance company were taking this to court to recouperate the cost. The other parties statement claimed she was stationry when I hit her. This was not true.

 

I had to then leave a statement and send it directly to court. A months later my insurance company finally, and within two weeks of the court date got me in touch with legal representatives who had to delay the court date because they had been assigned so late. They got me to do a video statement, I signed this and it got sent to my legal reps. They then contacted me saying with this statement I had no chance of winning and should just admit full liability because I had admitted to hitting her car whilst it was stationary. I did not put this in the statement at all so I called them up and said if they feel my statement is inferring this then don’t send it to the court. They told me it had already been sent and I couldn’t retract it.

 

I reluctantly agree to ask for 50/50.. Her insurance company declined, so I decided to take this to court as she is lying and my Insurance premiums shouldn’t go up because of this. This was against the advice from my insurance company appointed legal reps.

 

On the basis of the above what are my chances off winning. I’ll happily share my statement with someone if it helps..

 

Got to go to court next Thursday and really nervous and anxious.

cw8825

You should just withdraw the defence
a 50/50 claim is still a fault claim it will make very little difference to your future premiums.

The legal reps are there for a reason, going against their advice is not going to help you. The issue is that from your description you admit to be moving, you are only assuming that she has moved.
I guess she has said she is stationary.
So you both admit and confirm the other car was not moving.
You are only guessing that she has moved to contribute to the contact

ButterCheese

You might just have to suck it up.  Your description here on how it happened is not water tight and does suggest both cars moving when the first impact occured.  The fact that you are willing to change your video statement also suggests that you weren't clear on how it happened, and who was moving where at what point, which isn't a good look. 

In summary, you better be pretty sure and clear that you were not at fault if that was the case.  And changing your statement is sort of going against your original account so they will assume you no longer remember what happened and that it could be your fault.  If the other party has stuck to their story right through then that looks better for them and worse for you..  So I wouldn't be surprised if it goes 50/50 both at fault.  It might be a miscarriage of justice in your eyes but if there's no clear evidence to support either party, then the person who tells the best story sometimes wins

DullGreyGuy

Insurers settle on 50/50 when they cannot prove one version over the other and dont want to risk going to court. In court the judge will decide what has happened and apportion blame based on that. 

You really would need to post a version of your actual witness statement to be able to determine how it reads. In principle it seems like she says she was stationary your turned in tightly and whilst the front end cleared the rear end didnt (the rear doesn't take the identical path as the front). You're saying you turned in and were moving when the collision happened. You say that after the accident you believe she had moved off but dont say how you came to that conclusion or if you actually saw her move or what. In principle it's not looking good for you. 

As others have said, if it's 50/50 you'll get some of your excess back but it will have the same impact on NCD and future premiums as if it was 100% your fault.